Bauman, Franck to see some familiar faces

HIDALGO — The uniforms will be different. Well, a lot different actually.

Instead of seeing four of their former colleagues in the more traditional set of the now-defunct Oklahoma City Blazers, Bees Stacey Bauman and Andy Franck will play against one-time teammates who now wear the garish baby blue uniforms of the Missouri Mavericks. The expansion team’s uniform comes complete with orange accents and a logo featured on each player’s socks, a look that is especially jarring compared to the final set worn by the Blazers, which featured a maroon and gold Old English B on the chest.

Yeah, much has changed since Franck and Bauman spent last year in Oklahoma City with Chad Hinz, Bill Vandermeer, Tyler Fleck and Doug Groenestege, who the Bees (3-3) will see Friday and Saturday when they host the Mavericks.

“Baby blue doesn’t seem to fit some of their personalities,” Bauman said. “A jersey’s a jersey. It doesn’t really say too much about who’s playing. It will be different for sure. It’s the game of hockey so it will be all the same.”

Completely different uniforms aside, the Bees will face a Mavericks (2-5) team that plucked some of the Blazers’ better players after the Oklahoma City franchise left the CHL this summer. Hinz and Vandermeer are two of the Mavericks’ top scorers, Fleck is arguably their best defenseman and Groenestege has both of Missouri’s wins in net.

Together in Oklahoma City last season, they all contributed to a team that used solid goaltending and physical defense to win 39 games and reach the second round of the playoffs. Franck expects to see more of that from the Mavericks this season, despite their slow start.

“There’s a difference between the North and the South. The South is a little more finesse and goal-scoring. Those guys play a physical game,” Franck said. “So I’d expect the same from them.”

Knowing what to expect, though, goes both ways this weekend. As familiar as Bauman and Franck are with some of the Mavericks, those former Blazers also know plenty about their ex-teammates.

“You hope that you’ve got a little bit of an edge but in the same breath so do they,” Bauman said. “They know what you do. It will be fun for sure.”

Other than a reunion for Bauman and Franck, this weekend’s games are the Bees’ last at home before a tough four-game road trip with two stops at Laredo and one at Texas and Odessa. Aside from facing old teammates, gaining four points and getting above .500 for the first time this season will also be on the minds of the Bees.

“We don’t want to see .500 again,” Franck said.

Or, perhaps, some of their former teammates in baby blue and orange.

Brian Sandalow covers the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436.